“In children you should never let such angry passions rise; their little hands were never made to tear each other’s eyes.” ~ Isaac WattWe use fairy tales to teach young children morals; however, these fairy tales have a negative effect on children's psyche. The fairytale is often an entertaining story of miraculous and supernatural happenings. Its purpose is to galvanize the depths of our minds in such a way as to make us a part of the landscape, bound only by the limits of our own imaginations. However, it is this very ‘free-for-all’ fantasy land that poses a very real threat to its intended audience – children. Both traditional and contemporary fairytales experienced by children can have harmful effects on a child’s psyche. This is especially true when children are exposed to these fairytales during the early stages of psychological development.

When do we most often expose children to the fairytales? More likely than not, we use the tales to ‘comfort’ children, perhaps to calm them down, in the form of bedtime stories. But, have you ever really thought about the messages given to a child through the words of these fairytales? ‘Snow White’ advocates divorce and black magic. There’s justified homicide and cannibalism in ‘Hansel & Gretel’, mass murder in ‘Blue Beard’, as well as betrayal and pre-meditated murder in the ‘Lion King’. Is it any wonder, then, that the child comes running or sits screaming and crying because he’s afraid to be baked in the oven - or maybe he feared that since Cruella DeVille is so persistent to skin those little puppies, that she might be apt to do the same to little boys! We try to reassure them that it was just a fairytale – that it was just make-believe. But how can we expect a child to take our word that it’s not real? Especially since we constantly portray ourselves as hypocrites when we threaten that we will “get the boogie man after you if you don’t eat all of your peas, young man!”

Since the early 19th century, many fairytales have been the center of stark criticism causing heated discussion among the world’s leading personalities of the time. Each having opposing views, Dr. Karl Oppel, a German psychologist, and Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a child psychologist from the United States, were two of the most voiced fairytale experts. Though theses two men were three generations from each other, Dr. Bettelheim drew most of his protests from Dr. Oppel’s most publicized findings and opinions in a 1903 debate. In his book, The Parent’s Book: Practical Guidance for the Education at Home, Oppel made his strong argument against telling fairytales to children. He states that we should “shelter children from the ugly, illogical, overly violent, and frightening – All of which are carelessly portrayed through the fairy tale [fairytale]” (Oppel, Should children be…). In the text, Oppel goes on to recount a childhood story in which a young man is passing the time away under the gallows, and is amusing himself with several hanged corpses. Later, he takes the corpses from their coffins and lays them with him in bed! Surely this is not the type of image that we want to share with our children. Nor is that of the evil step-mom portrayed as being a blackened sorceress, giants living in the sky that are apt to eat you, or a little man that rips himself in two when you guess what his name is! Think about it: It’s a warm summer night and the children are all tired from the day’s events. Mom comes in, hushes them, and begins to tell a story of two young children who have become too expansive for their parents to support. This, therefore, justifies the stepmother’s decision to murder the two of them. She sends her husband to carry this out; however instead, he abandons them deep in the woods, where, by the way, they are lured to a cabin made entirely of sweets. This cabin, though, just happens to be the home of an evil witch who savors human flesh and whose only intention is to fatten the children, bake...

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...Analytical Essay
Snow White and the seven dwarfs is a fairytale about a king and a queen who longed to have a child of their own and had tried for years but with no success. The queen makes a wish that she’d love to a have a child who is as white as snow, as red as blood and as black as the wood of the window frame she was sitting next to. With unexpected turn of events, she bares a daughter that had the same features as she wished for and she named her little Snow White. The queen dies soon after Snow White is delivered. Her only parent, the king, raises Snow White. As years passed by, the king took to himself another wife. She was very beautiful but proud and haughty as she could not bear anyone else should surpass her in beauty. She had a magical glass that she used to satisfy her pride by confirming if she is the most beautiful of the women in the land, as she knew the glass spoke of the truth.
As Snow White aged, her beauty grew more and more. The new queen, who is now the stepmother of Snow White, learns of Snow White beauty through the “looking glass” as it only spoke of the truth. She becomes jealous of Snow White and more hatred filled her heart. She calls upon a huntsman, and orders him to execute Snow White her in the forest and bring forth her heart. The huntsman took Snow White to the forest but could not kill her as he took pity on her. He sets her free and instead killed a wild animal so as to deceive the queen of...

...14 Jan 2004 Page 1 of 3
Scholars say fairytales stress beauty
BY ERIN HANAFY
ASSOCIATED PRESS January 14, 2004 Fairytales offer children a fantasy world of magic, romance and adventure where pumpkins are transformed into crystal coaches and a kiss from a handsome prince can bring a young girl back to life. But tales like "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White" are also sending strong messages about the importance of having a beautiful appearance, according to a study by Purdue University sociologist Liz Grauerholz and Lori Baker-Sperry, an assistant professor of women's studies at Western Illinois University. Grauerholz and Baker-Sperry examined 168 Brothers Grimm fairytales to study how they deal with beauty in "The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children's FairyTales." Beauty or ugliness is referred to in 94 percent of the Grimms' fairytales, with evil characters often being described as ugly. In "Cinderella," beauty in women was referred to 114 times. The stories have fewer than 35 references to male characters, according to the study. "I think the message that's given to girls is that beauty is one of the most important traits for females in our society," says Grauerholz. "Boys don't get the message as much that it's so important to be handsome." The Brothers Grimm...

...Protagonist was not expected to get anatasia because was not brave
Competition of who speaks first (silent love leads to unhappiness?)
The sweethearts
Speculation about first love (riborg voigt)
Obsession toward her but rejected in the end
Ball was snobbish and rude
Top is golden and very respected
Social climb, how top went higher and higher and ball dropped
The collar
Trying to find lover but constantly rejected
Gets older but still talks about exploit about him being highly wanted bachelor
Verbal irony because collar likes to brag
Turned into a rag/paper and gets story written on him for punishment because his life is one big lie
Reveals his own lie (irony)
The butterfly
Soren would say that the butterfly is unable to choose so no real existence/wasn’t living (Andersen & soren agreeing)
Moves from outside to inside (being integrated into society)
Caught and fixated on this peg
Butterfly said he achieved his goal of marriage (there is no freedom; just stuck there)
Ironic because he actually achieved nothing and didn’t learn anything
Ice maiden
A lot more sexuality
Ice maiden
Symbolizes purity and virginity
Ironic because she turns out evil
Dealing with two adults (not children) who aren’t together so she can wedge herself between them
Rudy defined as a child of nature
Dog story talks about social inequality
Andersen manages to criticize that (cheers for the little people)
Ice maiden represents temptation
Trying to say id like...

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The RealMeaningbehind Othello’s Handkerchief
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Fairytales have been part of children’s culture for many years. They have been the favorite bed time stories and the doors to an alternate world of imagination. To some, fairytales have been the key educational tool to teach children the values of life. To others they are parallel to our real lives and are therefore found to be relatable. Whichever the view is, fairytales have been very significant in people’s lives and have ignited different opinions and views on the role that fairytales play in children’s development. The well-known fairytales that have been turned into the successful Disney movies originated from the collections of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson, along with other various writers. Their existence have depended on the media. Due to this reliance, fairytales could be on the brink of extinction. Recently, in November of 2010, Disney has announced that they do not have any future plans to make movies based on fairytales. It is argued that fairytales are no longer appealing to children. The purpose of this essay is to explore how fairytales are found to be favorable to children and are important in their lives.
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...father and the beast never involved money but gave Beauty a sense of guidance and to make her own caring and moral decisions to overcome difficult situations or struggles.
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July 31, 2014
FairyTales: Old VS Modern
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...I believe that reading fairytales to children could be one of the most influential things in the upbringing of a child, although I know there is an opposing side to this matter. Through reading these fairytales that have been passed down to our families from one generation to the next, I believe that these stories have helped to teach children how to explore their imagination, always tell the truth, and to know right from wrong.
Over the past few decades there have been conflicts over the stereotypical concepts about the way that men and women are portrayed in these stories. Such as in the story “Cinderella” the stepmother is just as wicked as she can be and the father just does what his wife asks of him, no matter if it hurts his daughters or not. This is a reason that some people have opposing views to this matter. They think that the children could get a totally different meaning from these stories, therefore acting out the bad or wrong things in the story as opposed to the good.
Fairytales require the mind to be attentive to detail, to be highly active in problem solving, to roll through tunnels of prediction and to tumble down hills of emotion and run back up again.
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